'47 Chevy Truck

'47 Chevy Truck

5" x 7", Oil on Gessoboard

© 2010

COMMISSION - SOLD

Over a year ago Frans Carlson requested a painting. Since one of his life-long hobbies was photography, I asked that he email me personally meaningful snapshots.

One of the scanned photos he sent showed a beloved, but dusty, Chevrolet and a contented family cat, both catching the warming rays of the morning sun. The photo was a bit faded and color-shifted. Dark shadows cast by the barn-like garage obscured some of the Chevy's details. Nonetheless, the nostalgic quality of the photo spoke to me of a time far more gentler and far less complex.

I wanted to know more about the Chevy's form to fill in the missing details. I sent the image to my life-long friend and car aficionado, Don Colucci. He quickly wrote back that the vehicle was a Chevy Truck, vintage 1947 to 1954. I did an internet search and found a few pics.

I started and stopped and started again to draw and paint the image, but a year ago I was just beginning to rediscover and reconnect to the fundamentals of oil painting. Should I include the cat, the garage, the ladders hanging on the garage wall? I re-reviewed the internet pics and found the composition that had been so evasive; a restored model had been closely cropped to emphasize the nose, grill, and headlights!

Although I focused on the truck's front end, I found that there is a greater degree of precision required in capturing the man-made attributes of a solitary mechanical device than those of a nature-made vista.

I don't really know if the Chevy was a 1947 model, but the painting's title reminds me as to why I was attracted to this particular bit of nostalgia.